UBI posts net loss of Rs 260.62 cr in Q4

Kolkata, (IANS) State-run United Bank of India (UBI) on Monday reported a net loss of Rs 260.62 crore in the quarter ended March 31, due to higher provisioning for bad loans, against net profit of Rs 73.56 crore in the same quarter last year.

During the March quarter, the bank’s operating profit, however, increased by 14.53 per cent against last year, while Net interest margin improved from 2.10 per cent to 2.30 per cent over last year. The non-interest income of the Bank has also shown a robust growth of 39.34 per cent over last year, the bank said in a statement.

However, “owing to spike in NPA provisioning by about 78 per cent” as per Reserve Bank of India’s revised framework on resolution of stressed assets, the overall profitability has been “adversely affected”, it said.

Its gross NPAs stood at Rs 16,552.11 crore at the end of the quarter as compared with Rs 10,951.99 crore last year.

Gross NPAs as a percentage of total advances rose to 24.1 per cent at the end of 2017-18 from Rs 15.53 per cent last year.

The Kolkata-headquartered lender reported a net loss of Rs1, 454.44 crore in 2017-18 as against a profit of Rs 219.51 crore in the previous year.

Under Basel III, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio has remained comfortable at 12.62 per cent with the tier I capital at 9.87 per cent as on March 31, 2018.